both of us
by fiftyways
Summary: Rukia dies, Ichigo promises and Gin wants revenge. GinRuki. One-shot. Happens during the Winter War/Arrancar War arc or whatever is it called.


Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, and I, nothing except for my plot.

BEWARE: if you don't approve of GinRuki or super-OOC then grab your peduncle and get out of here.

This is just something that came into my mind while I was trying to find my wallet. Constructive criticisms and reviews are welcome :)

Well, let's start, shall we?

She looks so small and fragile in his arms. So dainty and petite, like a doll.

Gin thinks he has never felt this kind of pain before, a pain from his head and heart. He feels like he's being wrenched apart in half.

She smiles at him with wide violet eyes, those kind of eyes no one could ever say no to. She whispers his name, a slim white hand reaching out to cup his face. Gin leans into her palm, committing her touch to his memory because he knows he will never feel it again.

What is the point of living when there's nothing to live for?

"I love you," she says, a faint smile curving her pale, pale lips. Gin can only nod at her words.

"Love ya too, ya know," he replies brokenly. His breath hitches as he tries to hold in his tears.

He fails.

A teardrop falls on her cheek. It slides away to the side of her face, leaving a clear trail behind.

Her head rests on his lap as a long-fingered hand gently smoothes her short black hair away from her face. Gin's eyes drifts down her body and stops at the bloody patch just below her chest.

He closes his eyes, he doesn't want to see this.

"...I know," her once-vibrant, musical voice is reduced to a raspy murmur. Gin gives her a little smile- not the sharp, sarcastic smirk- but a real one that softens the angular lines of his face.

She is the only person to be on the receiving end of that expression.

A crooked smile graces her lips as Rukia Kuchiki closes her eyes. Her body stills, her breathing stops. Gin picks up a slender wrist and feels for her pulse; it stutters and... there is no more. His eyes fall onto Sode no Shirayuki just in time as the last of her hilt dissolves into delicate little snowflakes. They scatter like dust, going wherever the wind brings them.

Ichigo feels the sudden drop of Rukia's reiatsu. And then...gone.

_oh god oh god oh god no_

Ichigo's eyes widens, abandoning his fight with a fraccion and hurtles off in a shunpo that would have rivaled Yoruichi's to search for Rukia, praying to every god in the heavens above that he can think of that he would find Rukia alive, at the edge of death, but still alive.

His heart is pounding so wildly he feels like it could burst out of his ribcage any time.

_hold on, rukia,_ he thinks desperately._ i'm coming to save you. i _will _save you. _

_i promise._

Gin is numb. He bends down to drop a last kiss onto Rukia's forehead, and gently lifts her off his lap. He picks up Shinsou, and vows to make Sousuke Aizen feel every single drop of pain he is feeling right now.

_It's a wonder I didn't die from it,_ Gin thinks.

He finds Aizen fighting against a blonde Visored. Gin observes detachedly, and sees that his former captain is barely even using half his strength. The Visored, Shinji-san, he thinks his name is, is badly injured. His arm is broken, white gleaming bone jutting out from his elbow. Blood blossoms on his tattered shirt. Gin looks away; he is harshly reminded of Rukia. Shinji's face is sticky with blood, a wide gash on his cheekbone spurts the crimson liquid. His Hollow mask has shattered, a fragment of it still around his eyes. Then Aizen goes in for the kill. He sweeps Kyoka-Suigetsu in an arc, slashing Shinji almost in half.

Shinji lets out a gasp of pain, and falls.

A high-pitched scream follows, from a short girl with spiky blonde pigtails and a Hollow mask.

"Sorry, _Captain_," Aizen says . "And I know you're there, Gin," he adds lazily.

"Sorry,_ Captain_." Gin hisses. "Bankai..."

"...Kamishini no Yari."

His reiatsu sky-rockets as his bankai blade extends to its limits, its tip just touching Aizen's zanpakuto blade.

"Bingo."

"Here to fight me, Gin?" Aizen tilts his head towards his former assistant-captain."Not very wise, you know," he says so relaxedly like they were having tea instead of trying to kill each other. Parrying a vicious swipe from Gin, he continues. "You could never defeat me, even without Kyoka-Suigetsu."

Gin snarls, a wordless sound of palpable rage. He lunges at Aizen, extending his blade to its bankai length. It shoots out so fast even his eyes cannot follow it.

_Bulls-eye_, Gin thinks, as his blade lodges itself right in the middle of Aizen's chest with a soft _shluk_.

"What's that ya say just now, Capt'n?" Gin smiles sharply as he retracts his sword from his opponent.

Aizen is still standing. "My, my, Gin. How _naive _of you," he says, while regaining his hold on his sword."You think a mere cut like that can kill me?"

Gin gazes at him icily. "It's not just a mere cut, Aizen. It's a _poisoned_ cut." Sheathing Shinsou, he continues. "You should feel it about, I don't know, now-"

Aizen had disappeared.

Then he feels the cold bite of steel thrusting into his back.

Gin looks behind, even though he already knows what he is going to see.

Holding the sword is a coldly smiling Aizen.

"I'm a god, Gin. I'm invincible, poisoned blade or not," Aizen leans in to whisper in his ear, driving his blade deeper into Gin's back.

Aizen releases him, letting his former right-hand man fall onto his knees.

Aizen's reiatsu suddenly feels so suffocating to Gin. It chokes him, strangles him, squeezes the last of his oxygen from his lungs, stealing his air.

"I always knew you'd betray me, Gin. I just didn't know when."

Aizen's voice feels so far away, tinny-sounding. His vision begins to blur around the edges.

_all those betrayals_

_all those sacrifices_

_all for nothing_

He had failed to avenge her. He can't help but feel so damned pissed with himself, anger at himself so strong he feels like bursting. The bitter taste of disappointment and frustration and just pure _rage _is tangible on his tongue. He can feel the throbbing of the injury on his back so intensely his head spins.

But a small part of him welcomes the pain.

Gin knows he is going to die.

So he embraces the darkness that has begin to envelop him, letting it take him.

He feels himself falling, the ground rushing up to meet him.

He braces himself for the jolting pain, but there isn't any.

Gin finds himself in a brightly-lit corridor, with doors running on each side of the wall. He looks down, and notices that he is wearing the patterned yukata that he used to wear when he was still a kid in Rukongai. Barefeet, he walks down the corridor, examining the doors on his left.

_is this really the place you go when you die? really? _Gin wonders.

_Well then, if this is really where the dead roam..._

Gin takes a step forward.

_...then maybe I can find Rukia somewhere,_ he thinks and smiles to himself.

FIN

thank you for reading! :) do review :) ugh. and their line breaks. :(


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